Pittsburgh-area high school football player dies after...

David Price wouldn't play for the Yankees due to facial hair rule

Rays pitcher David Price says he wouldn't play for the Yankees because of their rule forbidding facial hair. (Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

American League Cy Young award winner and Tampa Bay Rays left-hander David Price is set to hit free agency market after the 2015 season and there is one place he says he won't go...to the division rival New York Yankees.

It's not because of a fierce, intense hatred of the Yankees, it's because of New York's rule about players having no facial hair. Price says he enjoys manager Joe Maddon's style and approach to the players.

"Joe wants us to be comfortable in our own skin. He doesn't care what we do in the locker room. He doesn't care what type of music we play, how loud we play it," Price said, via FoxSports.com. "He doesn't care what we wear to the field, because that's not going to help us be better baseball players. That (would give) us more reasons to mess up, more reasons to get a fine, more reasons to be mad about coming to the ballpark because you have to wear slacks and a collared shirt in 100-degree weather."

“It's a joke to me, that I had less rules in college than I would on some major league teams. That's not my style, man. I couldn't do it on some of these teams I hear about. I couldn't do it. I'm a grown man.”

Price, 27, went 20-5 with a 2.56 ERA and 205 strikeouts last season for the Rays.